1. Field of the Invention
The invention concerns a personal dispenser for medication, particularly pills of a pressed-granular, capsule or gel form, having programmable features for achieving accuracy in the scheduling of dosages and medication times, with timing and alarm features for alerting the user, and recording and reporting aspects for monitoring compliance.
2. Prior Art
Pill dispensers are known of a type that has a series of compartments that the user is required to load with the correct type and number of pills to be consumed according to some schedule of prescribed dosage. It may be important for the medication to be taken at the correct schedule, but there are complications.
One complication is the possible number of pills involved and the incompatible nature of the time schedules that are applied. For example, the user might be expected to take one pill in the morning, another before meals, another at bedtime, a different one twice per day (time unspecified), one upon the occurrence of particular symptoms (e.g., pain), but not in certain situations (e.g., not on an empty stomach). These requirements make it difficult for the user (patient) to understand and comply with dosage prescriptions.
The user might obtain a dispenser having seven compartments for a week's medication, e.g., to be taken at a certain time of day. The user can count out the pills for the week according to the number per day per compartment. This technique is workable if there are only a few types of pills and times of day for taking them, but can become complicated if there are different times of day and numerous pills to be taken at different time schedules.
Programmed apparatus such as medication dispensers in hospitals or nurse stations can help organize the dispensing of pills for a number of patients. The dispensers can operate on short time intervals, such as each half hour or other convenient time for a nurse to make rounds to patients. The programming is such that, if operated in a predictable way, can accommodate complicated different pill schedules and even irregular schedules if so prescribed. The apparatus is coupled to a network whereby medication is counted out and labeled for a patient, and can include data coordination with other systems. For example, integration with patient billing records allows charges to be incremented to account for dispensing to a given patient and integration with pharmacy stocking can help manage reordering, etc. The apparatus can even be coupled to a safety assurance system to prevent conflicts between incompatible medications.
Such sophisticated systems are not justified for an individual's use, but there is a need for a personal pill dispenser that has at least some of the benefits of automation, that is capable of managing a schedule of different pills to be taken at different scheduled times, preferably taking into account or at least displaying any specific instructions as well as alarming for timing when it is time to take a pill and accounting for whether or not the schedule is met.